Without new members any community tends to stagnate and fail to thrive since new members often bring fresh ideas and Points of Veiw (POV). This forum is the "community center" for those seriously interested in the topic of useing Plant Oils as a petroleum diesel fuel replacement. It has grown tremendously in the past years as the interest in this alternative fuel has grown. Other forums focused on this subject exist ...but this is the oldest, largest, and most productive North American VO fuel forum in existance. Though kit vendors and conversion installers may visit here frequently it is not owned or run by any of them and therefore the information generally discussed is for the most part not biased by commercial interests. There are other VO fuel oriented forums and groups which include:

(These are provided at the sponsoring VO conversion Kit Vendors expense mainly as a way to promote their products while allowing easy information sharing by forum members)

There are also a few "not quite open" forums which are strictly managed by vendors expressly as pure advertising tools. The information on these is heavily "filtered/edited and so information on these may be heavily biased toward the vendors products to the point that complaints regarding the product..or POVs not conducive to product sales are deleted or simply not allowed. These shall remain nameless ..but you will know them when you see them.

There is also a technical forum primarily oriented toward gathering, condensing, and indexing the information from forums relating to VO fuel and a few related special topics.

It has a tutorial section which may be helpful if all you are primarily interested in is easily finding how to convert you diesel engine to VO fuel.

Assuming however that you are interested in how to best participate in and use the assets of THIS forum please read on.

Forum members are neighbors in a sense who are often willing to help each other. We try to be good neighbors and encourage you to strive to be a good neighbor too in our little community. By reading this "sticky post" first you have demonstrated that you are at least interested in that goal. The info below has been gathered here to help you achieve it and make your integration into our community as smooth and productive as possible.

Many choose to not be "active participants" in the forum simply reading and watching what the active participants do. Others choose to activly participate..sharing thier ideas and POVs in ongoing discussions ..or even starting new ones. If you choose to become an active participant you should realize that as a new member posting for the first time you are litterally a virtual unknown. We do not know WHO you are..or WHAT your skillsor knowledge levels are. WE do not know if you are aware of the dangers of VO related activities or even if you have researched enough to understand the basics of VO conversion. As a result you may be treated as if you do not know the basics...unles you indicate what you do know about them.

As an example:

You may be a highly skilled and experienced diesel mechanic...but have your initial posts responded to as if you had never turned a wrench since WE HAVE NO CLUE that you are a diesel mechanic UNLESS YOU TELL US. Since YOU know who you are this may seem like an insult. Please don't respond as if it is. It is much better to provide a short post of your qualifications so existing forum members better understand who you are than to responst "WHO DO YOU THINK W YOU ARE TALKING TO BUDDY!". Untill YOU tell us...we simply don't have a clue. And if you have no experience..you definately do not want a response WAY over you head either. So..please do not take immediate offense if someone treats you like a "newbie". It is just as likely to be your perception as an intentional insult. Much more likely in fact. We are a pretty mature and well behaved community as a whole on this forum.

Here is a test.

The Movie you will veiw HERE is intended to be educational and humorous.

If you find it offensive you may want to hold off posting for a little while longer.

Occasionally you may feel you have been insulted by another forum member. We all have bad days..and there are always a few who are WAY TOO BLUNT. I may be one of them. Combine the two (bad day/too blunt) and the result may be hurt feelings. Rather than respond as if you were intentionally insulted....try a Private Message or email to the forum member that just insulted you. More often than not a PM like this will result in that member replying ..."I did not intend to insult you...please accept my apology"..or "I just got divorce papers and was having a BAD day before THAT.... But I should not have taken it out on you..I am sorry."

This is a MUCH better way to deal with percieved insults than posting "What a JERK!...You are a moron whose MOTHER wears Army boots." Trust me on that.

And there is a little trick that you can do if you find that someone is a "JERK". You can eliminate them from your virtual community by adding them to you "ignore post" list. Choose this optionon the drop down menu you see whenyou clickon your win name in any post.

Once you try this option you will wish it was available in REAL life. It makes "Jerks" dissappear from your list of posts except for a note stating

quote:

Ignored post by (your chosen "jerk")

every so often in duscussions. If you decide you wish to view it you can just click on it and it becomes visible.

Here is a few other things that you will wish were option in real life.

In this community there is only one cop...and taxes are voluntary.

Just like life if no one pays taxes our services are cut...so please consider voluntarily donating to the cost of this forum. HERE is a page to make it easy and almost painless.

As for the cop...she is very good at what she does. You may never see her...but if you need her...just ask. This brings up rules...which again are pretty much voluntary. Get too out of line and Girl Mark will step in and you may find yourself warned..or even on Moderation (virtual jail) until she is convinced you ahve learned your lesson. Don't ask how I know this. Only a few ..very badly behaved ...individuals have been banned (virtally blindfolded and shot). I don;t think we have to be too concerned aobut that with you....do we.

Just so you know...here are the rules.

The simple rules: Rule #1: Be nice, be respectful, be polite. Disagreement and discussion are fine; flaming and personal attacks are not. Rule #2: Don't feed the trolls! Thanks, play nice and enjoy! The complicated rules: Considering the real-time nature of this bulletin board, it is impossible for us to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the contents of posted messages and are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this BB or any entity associated with this BB. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or this site. Although this Bulletin Board does not and cannot review the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we reserve the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Infopop Corporation (the makers of OpenTopic software), and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s). We also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you. Please note that advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate on this forum.

Now...to more helpful hints.

Please do not ask questions on this forum before searching for the answers first.This forum is getting larger all the time and as a result is much more difficult to search than it used to be. Adding EVEN MORE posts that are related to basic beginner questions just makes it harder for the next person looking for them since their search will have these posts at the top.

And thenUse the “FIND” function to search the archives.The “FIND” button is located in the the menu bar between NEW and NOTIFY.Left click on it and a drop-down menu with several options will appear along with a KEYWORD box. Type in the key words that best describe your question and you will probably get pages of links to discussions with that word in it. The better you describe your question the shorter the list of links you will get in the search.For example: When I type in the keywords 'heat exchanger' I get 58 pages of links. But if I type in 'flat plate heat exchanger' I only get 10 links. Although you can use the advanced search option IMO this gradual refining of the search is simpler. The posts on the top of the pages returned are the newest.

If you cannot find the answer to your exact question using the FIND function.You will still have a much better idea of what you are looking for and simply reading the few top posts in the top discussion your search returns may give you an idea of how to refine your search better. Using what you learned from those try a few new searches before you give up on finding the answers yourself. Using Advanced Search allows searching in Subjects Only which can be very efficient for some topics. For instance combining the word "how" with some other word like "filter" in Subject Only gives a good focused list. Searching by author can be useful also if you can remember who contributed.

If you have tried your best to find the answer yourself post the question in a new discussion using the “NEW” button in the menu bar on top of the forum. Clicking on it will provide a drop-down menu which includes “Discussion” as one of the options. Clicking on “Discussion” will cause a new window to pop up on your screen. The blinking cursor will be in the “Subject” area. Type a few words in this that describe the area your question is about that will catch the attention of folks who might know the answer or where it is archived.Below that is a much larger “message” area where you can type in your entire question.You don’t have to be brief here..but try to stick to the point as closely as possible. If you have several questions that are very closely related stick them all in here. But if you have other questions that are totally unrelated start a separate discussion for each. VO fuel technology is a fast-moving and mainly grassroots field, so it is possible that you may have questions never asked before that stimulate a discussion that others will find very useful when they search for information on what you are curious about now. Separate discussions for each subject help to make the archives easier to search for those that follow.

(For a more detailed description of posting options click on the “Tools” button and “Help” will be on the drop down menu. Click it and a new window will pop up. Choose the feature you want more info on from the menu on the left side and it will appear in the right side of this new window.)

We are here to helpbut don’t assume we have nothing better to do than re-answer your questions. Some of us are very busy folks. And as hard as us “old hands” try we occasionally lose patience with the flood of “newbies” that become interested in VegOil fuel conversion as petroleum becomes more and more scarce..and fuel prices rise. So posting a question that you should have been able to find on your own MAY elicit a harsh response. I hope not...but it happens. Which is one of the reasons I have taken the time to create this post. I don’t want newbies to be afraid to post questions..but I don’t want the “Old Hands” to disappear either. It is a delicate balance.Especially since...

This is a minimally moderated forum. Self moderation is required at times...in fact all the time.If you feel the need to vent/flame/rage about a particular post please do so privately using Email or the Private Message feature available on this forum. The button to send a PM is on top of the discussion list on the far right side of the menu bar.

Please do not engage in political discussion. We try to stick to practical wvo discussion here and political discussions just tend to disrupt this.If you absolutely need to discuss politics please do it HERE.

The Frybrid forum owner Chris Goodwin has graciously provided this space for political discussions and it will help keep this forums dialogue more focused on VO fuel if you use it when you feel the need to discuss politics.

What about the rest of those buttons in the discussion posting window?I was afraid you would ask that....These buttons allow you:(from left to right)

1. To add a “smiley” to better convey your point. Sometimes text is not enough to allow someone to tell if you are serious or trying to make a joke. This can cause friction. So....use a smiley when you think someone may interpret your text in a tone you did not intend.2. To highlight text with a color3. To create a link to another website using that websites “URL” so others can easily go there. This can save a bunch of effort for you and your readers.4. To “BOLD” text5. To Italicize text6. To cross out textlike this7. To copy part of someone else’s post so it can be included in your reply...but marked so it can be distinguished from what you are posting.

quote:

So it appears in a box like this.

8. To make a list in an organized manner9. To add an email address link10. To link to an existing image/picture on the www/internet.(To use this to link to images not already on the www/internet you must create a “Photo Album” by clicking on the “New” button on the main discussions page and following the directions provided by the "wizard".) It may be handy to save the url of that album in your favorites so you don't need to create a new one every time you want to post a picture.Of these I find #1,3,7, and 10 to be the most useful.Never...NEVER click on the far right hand button marked </>. It will cause the entire internet to crash! Not really. Just kidding.... (See how smileys help!?) It is just for adding ubb code to your post. If you don’t know what that means...don’t do it.For a more detailed description of posting options click on the “Tools” button and “Help” will be on the drop down menu. Click it and a new window will pop up. Choose the feature you want more info on from the menu on the left side and it will appear in the right side of this new window

Finally..This forum is free to use. BUT it currently costs $1373 per year to run this siteSo..if you feel you benefit from having it available..and want to help insure it is around for those that follow ... consider making a small donation by going HERE and clicking on the Paypal donation button. You can use a Paypal account (if you are a Paypal member) or any major credit card (if you are not) on the secure Paypal server to help pay for the costs Shaun has paid for the years that this VO forum..and it’s sister Biodiesel forum...have been serving the alternative fuel community since 2000.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: danalinscott, January 03, 2007 05:22 PM